Kragthorpe says to expect physical game

At least one Louisiana State University coach thinks the BCS championship game Monday night won’t turn into the sequel: Kicking Field Goals Part II.

“I never thought the first game would turn out to be 9-6,” said LSU quarterbacks coach Steve Kragthorpe, referring to LSU’s Nov. 5 win over Alabama in the regular season.

Monday night in the Superdome in New Orleans, more is on the line this time: It’s for the BCS national championship.

Kragthorpe is a former West Texas A&M quarterback (1986-87) and is married to Canyon native Cynthia Poff. He will be perched in the LSU coaches box Monday night helping call plays and encouraging LSU quarterbacks Jordan Jefferson and Jarrett Lee.

Although the media has portrayed the LSU QB situation as a controversy during the Tigers 13-0 season, Kragthorpe shrugs that off as nonsense.

“It’s been great between the two,” Kragthorpe said. “They have been very supportive of each other. People talk all the time about how we have a quarterback controversy. That’s funny, I was talking to Tod Mayfield (Amarillo attorney and former WT quarterback) and it’s kind of like the same situation when we both played at WT. We always felt like we had two guys who could play.

“I tell people all the time if a guy is sitting in my room and doesn’t want to be a starter then he doesn’t need to be sitting in my room. Sure, they both want to start. They have done a good job handling the situation and are professional about it.”

Some of the conversations between Kragthorpe and Lee have turned to West Texas A&M football. Lee’s dad, Stephen, is the quarterbacks coach at WT.

“That’s always fun, to talk to Jarrett about WT,” Kragthorpe said. “On Monday’s we would hash out what was going on with WT football. He talks to his dad a lot. That was pretty cool.”

LSU will use the input of Jefferson and Lee in determining a few plays to run against Alabama.

“You learn from your players,” Kragthorpe said, “and try to do things they do well. One thing I do with the quarterbacks is have them list their 10 favorite passing plays two days before the game. I have them talk about them and explain them. We try to incorporate a few those in the game plan.

“It’s a Dan Henning way of doing things. He always called it a vested interest. If the quarterback has a say in what’s going on, he’s going to make those plays work.’’

Kragthorpe said while he has no idea how many points will be scored Monday night, he said fans can expect some serious hitting.

“It will definitely be very physical,” Kragthorpe said. “Because these are two very physical teams. In terms of how it plays itself out, I really don’t know. I never thought the first game would have turned out to be 9-6. I felt we had a chance to win but it would be higher scoring for both teams.”

In his first year working with LSC head coach Les Miles, Kragthorpe knows one thing for sure will happen against Alabama.

“What’s very cool about Les is he’s very resilient,” Kragthorpe said. “He doesn’t flinch. We got down 14-0 at Arkansas and 10-0 against Georgia and he’s like, ‘Hey, let’s go play. Just keep playing. Keep playing.’ I have been around teams that hit the panic button. He doesn’t do it and our coaching staff doesn’t do it.

“Obviously, there is a lot of lead-in to the game with all the media. And that first game felt like an NFL game. But once you tee it up, it is just another game. I have coached and played at all the levels from junior high to the NFL. It’s 11 guys against 11 guys and you are just playing.”